Religious poetry is a diverse genre that varies by culture and era. It includes epic poetry, devotional poetry, and mystical poetry. Examples include the Vedas in ancient India, Greek epic poetry, and Islamic mystical poetry. John Donne and George Herbert popularized devotional poetry in 17th-century England, and TS Eliot continued the tradition in modern times. African American spirituals are also considered religious poetry.
Religious poetry is one of the oldest literary genres and consists of many different types, depending on the culture and era in which it was written. In the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, many of the earliest literary works are poems with religious content. Classical Islamic literature had a type of religious poetry with mystical uses of love poems and standardized rhymes and imagery. One major form of 17th-century English poetry was devotional poetry written by many authors, including John Donne.
In ancient Greek communities, a type of epic religious poetry was written during the early stages of classical literature. This sometimes depicted the actions of gods and human-divine heroes such as Hercules. Hesiod wrote about the creation and origin of the myths of the ancient Greeks in a partially, but not completely, religious format. Eventually, much of the poetry within this genre became secularized, as Greek writers came to explore aspects of human psychology and history using religious characters and themes. In ancient India, the poems known as Vedas could also be considered a kind of religious poetry, as they were used in religious ceremonies.
In classical Islamic literature, an important artistic type of religious poetry flourished from about 1000 to 1500 in a genre influenced by the Islamic mystical movements of Sufism. These poems used the same writing styles as love poetry, sometimes symbolizing the relationship between the soul and God through various romantic themes such as the moth and the flame or the rose and the nightingale. Much of the mystical poetry written in the Islamic tradition was composed in Persian, the primary language of poetry in the Islamic empires of the Middle East and South-Central Asia. The most famous religious poet to come out of the Islamic world was the Sufi mystic Rumi, who lived in what is now Turkey.
One variety of English religious poetry is the devotional poem, popularized in 17th-century verse by the later works of John Donne and poet-minister George Herbert. Some devotional poems included rhymed translations from the Bible’s Book of Psalms or meditations on themes of divine providence, death, and redemption. This genre of religious literature favored prayers or affirmations of the Christian faith in the form of sonnets, as in Donne’s Holy Sonnets. Devotional poems were written for congregational use as part of religious services and for personal meditation.
Some modern poets working in English have also written devotional poetry. TS Eliot delighted in this style, and his later poetry includes many biblical and liturgical subjects. Some scholars consider aspects of hymn writing as poetic composition. Working within this framework, the tradition of African American hymns known as spirituals largely assembled in the 19th century United States could also be considered religious poetry.
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